Once again, another article from FOCUS magazine.
September 2002
Page 56
Is it true that more humans are alive now than have ever lived?
Robert Matthews, physicist from Aston university.
There are currently (in 2002) 6,100 million people living on planet Earth; almost four times the number just a century ago in 1900, and 12 times the estimated figure for 1650. Such a dramatic increase does seem to suggest that today's population could indeed exceed the total number of humans who have ever lived. But this ignores the slow but steady accumulation of numbers over the millenia. By analysing populations and their growth rates using historical data, demographers have come up with estimates for the total number of humans who have ever lived ranging from 60 to 100 billion. So, roughly speaking, even today's population represents only 5-10% of all the lives that have been lived in history.
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